Makeup Confession: I Need to Clean my Brushes More Often

I will admit it- I don’t clean my brushes as often as I should. With the exception of my eyeliner brushes, which get cleaned each and every time so they don’t get hard, I clean my brushes about once a week or so, sometimes less if they don’t seem as “dirty.” I just cleaned my It Cosmetics for Ulta Velvet Lux Empress Fan brush yesterday because I dropped it on the floor. So, I figured it was time to clean the other brushes I used this past week. I’m glad I didn’t use very many! (Yes, this is actually fewer than I used the past few weeks, I’ve been using a lot more since starting this website…lol!)

When I was in art school, I ALWAYS cleaned my brushes and took great care of them. If I didn’t clean them right away, paint would get stuck in the bristles and they would harden. This didn’t lend well to getting good grades. One would surmise that makeup brushes should be even more important to take care of since they are used on our skin. Unfortunately, since it’s “only makeup” and it’s temporary and won’t make the bristles hard, it’s too easy to get lazy!

At one of the Ulta stores we go to, there is a little room on the way to the restrooms. We never fail to see either someone in there cleaning brushes, or a batch of brushes drying. When we are in Sephora, we always see cast members scurrying off to clean brushes. This always gives me pangs of guilt. Furthermore, due to my medical experience, there is always a tiny nagging voice inside me reminding me about bacteria whenever I put an unclean brush back in the drawer.

Makeup brushes are breeding grounds for bacteria. Even though I don’t share my brushes, the thought of rubbing bacteria all over my face is mildly disturbing, to say the least. There’s also the fact that by keeping brushes clean, they last longer because they don’t degrade as quickly or as much. This becomes even more important when you have high end, expensive brushes.

I use two types of brush cleaner, both by Sephora. For those that don’t get heavily used or aren’t very dirty, I use the Daily Brush Cleaner, which is a convenient spray. For brushes that get packed with product or used more often (foundation, concealer, eyeliner, etc.), I use the Solid Brush Cleaner, suggested to me by Brendan at the Bossier City Sephora Inside JCP. He was really excited when they got this in, because he is convinced that it smells like almond cookies…lol! It does smell really, really good, so a daunting task can at least be a bit more pleasant- thank you, Brendan! This is also easy to use, it has a solid cleaning bar that you get wet and swirl your brush around on. Then there is a nubby silicone pad in the lid that you use to “scrub” the brush clean. I’ve also used baby shampoo in a pinch, but thus far, these are the two cleaners I use the most.

How often do you clean your brushes? Are you guilty, too? Scroll down to comment below!